In the latest issue of the Training Directors' Forum E-Net, Bryan Chapman from e-learning research company Brandon Hall argues that simulations are poised to make the next big impact on e-learning.

Although it's early days, Chapman says his company have seen a large number of vendors in the United States becoming involved with simulations over the last few months. Although most are concentrating on software simulations, an increasing number are looking at simulations for soft skills, with hard or technical skills the least well addressed.

The article goes on to quote US Training magazine columnist Clark Aldrich, who cautions that simulations have a long way to go before they are commonplace, owing, Aldrich says, to a lack of funding available in training departments who have recently invested in other technology such as Learning Management Systems.

Aldrich also says there is confusion about what constitutes an e-learning simulation, which could be games-based, story-based, simluator-based or a virtual product simluation.